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VH-OBY CofA achieved

Hi All,

I just wanted to firstly thank the VAF community and the experimental brotherhood in general for their support on my project, whether by word or just being in the room.....

Yesterday, approx 3 years and 4 months into my build of an RV-10, I have achieved the Australian CofA allowing me to move into test flying.

Full details of my build on my kitlog site: www.ozrv10.com.

Look forward to seeing how it flies.... :)

FP19052014A0000X.jpg
 
Hi All,

I just wanted to firstly thank the VAF community and the experimental brotherhood in general for their support on my project, whether by word or just being in the room.....

Yesterday, approx 3 years and 4 months into my build of an RV-10, I have achieved the Australian CofA allowing me to move into test flying.

Full details of my build on my kitlog site: www.ozrv10.com.

Look forward to seeing how it flies.... :)

FP19052014A0000X.jpg


Congrats!

Bob
 
VH-OBY

Thanks Bob,

I have now got the paperwork and will be doing the first 20hrs on Mags... (like a warrantee test) and then activate the G3i and run the next 5 hours on that system.

Once that is complete, 5 hours IFR work then its all there. Can't wait.

Should take I think approx 6 weeks. No rush, do it properly right :)
 
The plane sees daylight for the first time.

So much sanding on the cabin top I had to move the plane out of the shop and do some cleaning. Dust was piled everywhere!

Plane+and+Shop.JPG


She's kind of going through this ugly duckling phase right now, but I'm still proud!

Won't be long now and I can order the last kit from Van's...Firewall Forward!
 
Woohoo! Great progress Justin. We were very proud of our ugly duckling even when one time a line guy asked us if we were restoring it and was it a vintage plane :mad: lol
 
She's kind of going through this ugly duckling phase right now, but I'm still proud!

Won't be long now and I can order the last kit from Van's...Firewall Forward!

It's really looking great. I'm constantly impressed by the quality of the photos you get out of that iPhone!

I don't see door handles on that thing. How do you plan on getting in??

And Zac, I really teased him by sending him the pictures and then getting into a plane for 5 hours where he couldn't ask me questions! :D
 
Thanks! People keep saying I'm building fast, but it feels so slow, it's been over two years now! I'm always too excited about the next step. I can't wait to hang the engine!

Thanks for the shop comments as well. It was a lot of fun designing and building it. It took me all summer one year to build it. Completely designed with the airplane in mind.

Brian, ....that's funny, I would have loved to see the expression on your face when the guy asked that question. Priceless.

Zac,
I thought the pics were awesome. The parts are looking incredible, exactly what I envisioned while I was designing them, you guys do really great work! I can't wait to see them in person.....very excited!

Ed, ......yeah.....not cool man, not cool. :rolleyes:

P.S. The door entry problem is being resolved.
 
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So much sanding on the cabin top I had to move the plane out of the shop and do some cleaning. Dust was piled everywhere!

Plane+and+Shop.JPG


She's kind of going through this ugly duckling phase right now, but I'm still proud!

Won't be long now and I can order the last kit from Van's...Firewall Forward!

Oh man! If I had a shop like that I'd never want to leave! That wouldn't go over well with my wife or work. Very nice!
 
wow, that is impressive for sure. for my first build at such an early stage, its encouraging to see your work. nice pictures, and even nicer plane.
 
Got the aircraft back from the paint shop about a week ago and have it about 2/3rds re-built. Picked up the graphics yesterday and my paint guys fitted one of the side flashes today - 20 feet long!

Paint is Matterhorn White.



My aircraft is now officially "Groovy" :D
 
VS Page 6-2 is complete!

I think I can officially claim to be an RV-10 builder now. Learning interesting new things at every step, not happy with my deburring skills yet and nervous about the first priming batch. Still, lots of fun so far, and 'm glad the girls are excited when I ask for help.

VS+Page+6-2+complete!.JPG


Brian
 
Time to start the engine

I started working on the Empanage on June 10, 2012. After many hours of solitary work, after a lot of help from my friends, after many hours searching and reading the forums on The VAF website, and after spending more money than I thought I would.....today was the day to pull it out of the hangar and see if the engine would start. What a thrill to turn the key and have the engine fire up.

All of the Dynon instrumentation worked great. The mag check went well, good oil pressure and the prop cycled properly. Only problem was one small oil leak.

With any luck I should have the FSDO inspector in to look at it in 3 to 4 weeks.

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Congrats Alan! That's a fast completion time for a -10. You'll be flying in no time! Enjoy Phase 1. I have been in it for about 9 hours and it still amazes me that I get to do this.
 
Congrats Alan! That's a fast completion time for a -10.

Nahhh c'mon we built one in 8.5 months......and I went to work every day too, but there was a co builder. :)

Great work though ...... more pics please, and it is not finished yet. Unpainted. Long way to go yet.
 
Thanks for the Buzz kill

David,

I was pretty happy yesterday reaching what I think is a big milestone.

But thanks for pointing out all the work I still have ahead of me.
 
It' not done but I am getting closer

I called the Scottsdale FSDO last week on Thursday June 19th. I had been told previously that it would be at least a 2 week lead time to get someone to inspect my RV10.

I spoke to Dale Adams. He said he could be in Tucson Tuesday June 24th at 9:30AM to look at my airplane. Wow!!

Dale called about 8:30AM today asking if we could start early. Wow!!

We spent about 3 hours looking at the plane, doing paper work, and talking about some recent experimental aircraft accidents and what caused them.

It was time well spent. he found a couple problems which we were able to fix while he was there and i learned a few things.

The result......I have an airworthiness certificate for my RV10!!!!

5e778k.jpg
 
Joined two big parts today !

With the help of a pilot buddy, I got the empennage riveted to the fuselage today. This thing is getting big !! I really enjoy building this thing, although it can be frustrating at times.
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I'm looking forward to the next pages in the drawings:).
 
VH-OBY First Flight Success :)

Hi All,

VH-OBY has now achieved first flight.

I decided to complete all of the test flights myself after completing some transition training with Andrew M and Dan P. All I can say it transition training is a MUST.

The first day of "pre-flight testing" resulted in some very cooked brakes. I completed some high speed (read almost take-off speeds) and then full braking and completed about 4 of these in quick succession. Needless to say, don't do this as it will cause some major problems.

I needed to refurbish the callipers, replace the O-rings, and due to the massive heat build up replace one of the tires. It was bad, however, I was luckier than others on the forums. So be aware the brakes work well for their purpose, but not when you overdo it.

Once the brakes were sorted out, late Wednesday afternoon 02/07/14, she took to the sky with a beautiful grace. All of the first flight testing went very well. I did have one issue that raised it's head and from all the discussions I have had with others, not so uncommon.

I had the trim switch inverted. Pretty easy to sort out with the VPX but a bit embarrassing. A few leaks showed themselves up in the brake system and the fuel pressure sender. All easily fixed.

Videos can be seen at the following drop box:

Take-off: 8MB
https://www.dropbox.com/sc/fq3vjwoffgowkmt/AABHkyIAaWfBRqBKDlV4QFC_a

Landing: 18MB
https://www.dropbox.com/s/529lnwr00u7vh0t/Landing.mp4

In cockpit: 199MB
https://www.dropbox.com/sc/56y27tt3c1ev15t/AADszPIdnXj7RAM1ev913koxa

They are a bit large, however, I like them :)

This is fun......
 
Hi All,

VH-OBY has now achieved first flight.

This is fun......

Congrats Andrew!

Now all you need to do is fly it to OSH to join all the other newly flying RV-10s.:eek: Although you may need to turn the cabin into a fuel tank to make the flight.

Bob
 
Congrats on the first flight! Great build log as well, I bookmarked a couple of ideas. Thanks for documenting the build to help others. Glad the brake issue wasn't more serious.
 
I completed some high speed (read almost take-off speeds) and then full braking and completed about 4 of these in quick succession.
.

Do you have the Cleveland wheels and brakes? Did you notice any fading (loss of effectiveness) as the brakes got hotter?
I ask because some owners have switched to Matco brakes after supposedly seeing brake fade during a single hard stop.
 
Thanks and Brake fade

Thanks for all the wishes from everyone. I have had a ball building this plane. Not to finalise test flights and covering....

On the brake fade, No, I did not get any., In fact I was very happy with their effectiveness before they "gave out".

They worked fine as far as I could tell. However, I do like the look of the Matco brakes.... :)
 
That's a big smile

I called the Scottsdale FSDO last week on Thursday June 19th. I had been told previously that it would be at least a 2 week lead time to get someone to inspect my RV10.

I spoke to Dale Adams. He said he could be in Tucson Tuesday June 24th at 9:30AM to look at my airplane. Wow!!

Dale called about 8:30AM today asking if we could start early. Wow!!

We spent about 3 hours looking at the plane, doing paper work, and talking about some recent experimental aircraft accidents and what caused them.

It was time well spent. he found a couple problems which we were able to fix while he was there and i learned a few things.

The result......I have an airworthiness certificate for my RV10!!!!

5e778k.jpg

And deserving. Way to go.
Huge accomplishment
 
Do you have the Cleveland wheels and brakes? Did you notice any fading (loss of effectiveness) as the brakes got hotter?
I ask because some owners have switched to Matco brakes after supposedly seeing brake fade during a single hard stop.

I had Cleveland, after 2 years of test flying (read fast landings and abuse to pads).I replaced with Matco 112 pads. Feels the same to me after the Matco replacement. My landings are much slower now and the brakes seem to hold up fine. The Cleveland pads are fine for the initial years of test flying the -10. If I can do 80-90 mph landings for 1 year and the pads hold up to abuse you will certainly do equal or better with 50 hard stops..

With that said.. back to this thread- Congratulations on a successful first flight, Andrew! Beautiful plane and landing! seems like a great location too!

Congrats to Alan as well on getting the certificate!

Pascal
SoCal RV-10
 
I had Cleveland, after 2 years of test flying (read fast landings and abuse to pads).I replaced with Matco 112 pads. Feels the same to me after the Matco replacement. My landings are much slower now and the brakes seem to hold up fine. The Cleveland pads are fine for the initial years of test flying the -10. If I can do 80-90 mph landings for 1 year and the pads hold up to abuse you will certainly do equal or better with 50 hard stops..


Pascal
SoCal RV-10

I think you meant that you replaced the Cleveland pads with Rapco pads, both #112. Some have replaced the entire wheel and brake assembly with one made by Matco. The pads are twice as large.
But you are saying you did some hard braking from high speeds with the Cleveland or Rapco pads, and did not notice any fading? I'm just trying to collect some data points.
 
Finally back to making progress, fit the cabin top today. I could not believe how much I had to take of the sides of the door opening.
cabinTop.jpg
 
I asked Ken at Vans if you were really supposed to remove that much, as the plans have you do your first cut leaving the whole wall thickness, the curve, and 1/16". By the time I was done I had sanded at least a third of the way through the side of the door frame on the fiberglass. Ken said no one ever asked about that. Given how different the actual is from what the plans describe I wonder about his answer. Now I am trying to figure out exactly how much flange to leave for the McMaster seals, can anyone point me to good guidance on this?
 
The "never heard that before" is pretty common at Vans. Not sure if they don't share the information internally or something else, but it comes up a lot.

There are several threads on the McMaster seals and the flanges. Try searching in the RV10 section and you will find them.
 
Careful!

I asked Ken at Vans if you were really supposed to remove that much, as the plans have you do your first cut leaving the whole wall thickness, the curve, and 1/16". By the time I was done I had sanded at least a third of the way through the side of the door frame on the fiberglass. Ken said no one ever asked about that. Given how different the actual is from what the plans describe I wonder about his answer. Now I am trying to figure out exactly how much flange to leave for the McMaster seals, can anyone point me to good guidance on this?

As Mark said, do your homework and make sure you completely understand the cuts to make and how to make them (on the curved flange). I made a mistake in how I held the cutting disc and ended up taking off too much. Cost me a bunch of hours to extend the entire perimeter! PITA! I think Ivan's site had good info so check here:

http://ivankristensen.phanfare.com/2292606_3334806
 
Update.... Barrett goodness

Quite overdue on uploading some drool-worthy pics...
Most of this took place over the last 2 months, but I'm just now getting a chance to post 'em.

Since our plane is being built about 100 miles from Tulsa, we got the opportunity to pick our engine up directly from BPE in person. There was some testing done and extra break in done on my engine. We did get to run my engine on the EFII system in the dyno.... talk about smooth.....
Here's Allen, Dan H, Robert (EFII) And myself doing the switchover to the other fuel/ignition system....
r88p42.jpg


That's almost 300hp of Barrett goodness right there... of course painted to match the plane...

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On it's new home. (Thanks Al Smith for the Engine hoist!!)

2rhwwhc.jpg


Baffling for the Showplanes Cowl pretty much done....

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Our very cool, custom Ignition Coil Mounting plate..... (Thanks for the idea Dave)

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And of Course.... all the fun and mayhem that is going on on the other side of the firewall....

2rp2w4m.jpg


As of now, Hoses are all done, pretty much everything on the firewall is wrapped up... running wires waiting on our interior..... Hoping for a Winter 2015 first flight!!!
 
Aaaha, twas your engine that Dan featured in the current Kit Planes article.

r88p42.jpg

Ay.. it was indeed. Hadn't seen the article yet. Just read it. Couldn't spill any of the details.... Dan got all the facts right. Based on info from the identical test 2 days later at Titan, I feel strongly that we ,in a rush, made a big booboo in returning the hot fuel to the rail. In the titan test, the EFII system did as predicted and produced 10% more HP and 1 gallon less burn per hour.
We did our best on my engine to do an apples to apples, but with that one error in the EFII set up, there's no way of knowing if we skewed the results or not.... Either way, my engine ran smooth as silk, and for a hot humid tulsa day, had plenty of git up. :)
 
Not exactly the case

Sorry John. That may be what Robert told you, but it's bravo sierra.

Sorry Dan, Just like I can't argue with the results we got at Barrett on my engine (Skewed, not skewed, who knows, we introduced a questionable variable that we'll never know for sure), Also can't argue with the results that came directly From Titan's Dyno... (And since I don't work for any of these companies I can post 'em :) I mis-place the fuel burn chart...

We'll never know (until I go back to Barrett to help the next guy who's 540 comes through for build and we do it one last time that is....).

Either way, I've got what I feel to be the best engine, built by the best shop, running the best ignition and fuel system currently available on the market and I couldn't be happier. That's my opinion of my set up.... Anyone that wants to run mags.... I'll help you install them and we'll go punch holes in the sky together and both have fun....I'm leaving it at that....

307x0ko.jpg


wqtvuf.jpg
 
XIO-360?

John,

A couple of questions:
- Why do the charts say XIO-360, when your engine is an IO-540? Were the test runs not done on your engine?
- Can you post the chart showing the fuel flow savings?
- In your build, did you have to plumb return lines all the way back to the tanks? If not, where did you plumb the returns to?
 
Sorry Dan, Just like I can't argue with the results we got at Barrett on my engine (Skewed, not skewed, who knows, we introduced a questionable variable that we'll never know for sure), Also can't argue with the results that came directly From Titan's Dyno... (And since I don't work for any of these companies I can post 'em :) I mis-place the fuel burn chart...

Since you brought it up.....

Robert's "explanation" was included as a courtesy. He proposed it the morning after the tests, without the benefit of the complete dyno record.

Both you and I have a copy of that record. It is available to anyone, a matter of good journalism.

vrvhb6.jpg


As stated in the article, the theory is, fundamentally, fuel supplied to the injectors with a high vapor content. However, there doesn't seem to be any evidence in the dyno record, notably exhaust gas temperatures.

As most are aware, EGT indicates what fuel-air ratio was actually delivered to the cylinder. From the record, here are the individual cylinder EGTs for the maximum power runs with the two delivery systems:

bjftb8.jpg


The power curve response to mixture variation is quite flat in the best power region; regular readers have seen it on a number of Lycoming charts presented in other threads. EGT deltas this small would not indicate a significant mixture variation, nor result in the 4% horsepower reduction (276 HP vs 265 HP, corrected) seen here.

Here's an example (Lycoming dyno, WOT/2700, angle valve 360). The EGT range for best power extends about 90F, and as much as 200 with small loss:

14szjab.jpg


Keep in mind that the bubble argument is based on the engine being fed vapor rather than liquid fuel during the finite injector open time. If the system was regulating that open time based only on the base speed-density calculation, then the system would supply a lean mixture. The EGTs say that didn't happen. Even if it was happening, it wouldn't have mattered; both the Bendix and EFii runs were made with operator control of mixture. Mr. Barrett held RPM with with the water brake, advanced to WOT, then dialed the mixture to find max torque.

There are other good arguments, but let's get to the point. Any given day and any given engine might net slightly different results. The key word (and bottom line here) is slightly. So far, the range of published max HP deltas between conventional and EFii is (a) down 4%, (b) up 1% (the 360 posted above), and (c) up 2% (R409). Prior to your 540, Robert had never made a dyno run with the system installed on a Lycoming.
 
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Fiberglass for months

Finally getting the cowl trimmed up and fit, oil door in, rivets glassed over, sanding and filling pin holes-- next step is priming. Been working at this for months now-- time to move on!


Dave Ford
Cadillac, MI
20140826_095659.jpg
 
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